In 449 AD, Jute Vikings from Denmark set out and headed for England. They arrived in Ebbsfleet 53 days later. The commanders of this ship and others were King brothers Hengist and Horsa. The ship they came in was the Hugin. These Kings were major in the history of Britain. As far as they were concerned, this was their country now and they would defend it with their lives.
These two Kings are buried just outside of Folkestone, UK, in a little town called Newington. Two ferries that used to sail out of Folkestone, before the port was shut down, were named after the Kings with Hengist being the larger ship, and the Horsa being the smaller. In the hurricane of 1987, the Hengist was ripped from its berthing and beached.
In 1949, a replica of the Hugin was given to the town of Ramsgate, and placed at Pegwell Bay.
A Mixed Bag 
A fine histroy lesson and a Classic photo. 🙂
Thanks Celestine
Beautiful photo Alastair and great history lesson for me. 🙂
Thank you LuAnn 🙂
Sigh, my ancestors would have been so proud of the beautiful picture you took of this replica, We thank you so much, Penny
You’re more than welcome Penny. The Vikings were a fascinating people. Although they were conquerors, they were also so much more than that. Hengist and Horsa actually formed a pact / treaty with the king of England at that time.
I know Alastair, very cool, I’ve studied the origins of the Vikings, Actually you English as well, fascinating stuff really! 🙂
Yeah, we used to roll over and let anyone walk all over us LOL. Then being “interspersed” with other cultures enabled us to grow a backbone and become one of the biggest forces in the world. Conquering and colonising places ourselves
Another beauty and loved the backstory on it as well!!
Thanks Rachel. I used to live in Folkestone, so Hengist and Horsa were somewhat of local celebrities LOL
My arms got tired thinking about rowing for 53 days!
Haha yeah, think it would have hurt a bit.
I still want to do more research on this. I’ve got my family tree back to the 1700’s, I wonder if I could get it back to then 😉
This is the replica?
Yep. A full size perfect replica. They even sailed it from Denmark to Ebbsfleet. That’s how they know it took about 53 days 🙂
Cool 🙂